SSE pays out £705,000 over Feed-in Tariff misreporting
· SSE overstated generation payments in its Feed-in Tariff (FIT) annual submissions to Ofgem due to an administrative error
· SSE will now pay £455,705 in interest to the FIT levelisation fund and £250,000 to Ofgem's voluntary redress fund over the incorrect submissions
· SSE has since changed its reporting processes following an independent audit
SSE will pay over £705,000 to the FIT levelisation fund and in redress after overstating to Ofgem the costs it incurred through making FIT payments to eligible low carbon generators.
As a result, the supplier received £4.07 million more in payments from the annual levelisation fund than it was entitled to.
SSE reported the error to Ofgem and has paid back the overpayment.
The supplier has agreed to pay a further £455,705 in interest to the FIT levelisation fund.
It has also agreed to pay £250,000 to Ofgem's voluntary redress scheme to help support vulnerable customers.
An independent audit has been carried out to identify the causes of the error.
It recommended actions to improve SSE's FIT reporting processes and reduce the risk of future non-compliance, which SSE is currently implementing.
SSE must now report to Ofgem the outcomes of the changes.
Ofgem has now closed this compliance case without taking enforcement action, taking into account the steps SSE has taken to address its failings and the redress it has agreed to pay.
Notes to editors
· The Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) scheme is a government programme designed to promote the uptake of renewable and low-carbon electricity generation technologies. The scheme requires participating licensed electricity suppliers to make payments on both generation and export from eligible installations.
· The FIT scheme requires suppliers to make quarterly and annual submissions in respect of costs they have incurred through making FIT payments to eligible generators.
o Suppliers that have met a proportion of the costs of the scheme less than their market share of customers must make payments into the levelisation fund.
o Suppliers that have met a proportion of the costs of the scheme greater than their market share of customers receive payments from the levelisation fund.
· SSE will not be entitled to receive any redistribution relating to the £455,705 in interest it will pay back to the fund.
· For more information about Ofgem's consumer redress fund, see: Ofgem appoints Energy Saving Trust to distribute payments from rule-breaking energy companies to charities
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